Hello, my faithful readers… Hope this finds you on happy
trails… ‘Cuz it’s time to write again… I also hope this finds you excited to
know… I moved writing this ahead of taking a shower on my “things to get done
today” list…
I do know this story won’t stink as bad as I do now… Minga…
It’s gonna make a helluva good movie… It’s my year in review...
Yes, some details have been left out… Some names have been
changed to protect the guilty… Other than that… At least most… OK, some… Of the
story you are about to read is true… It’s called “Literary License” in the “writing
biz”… Enjoy…
So… After Leaving Idaho Falls last August… I spent a week
camped with friends in northern Utah… Nearly had the awning ripped off the RV
during a windstorm that came out of nowhere…
From there it took me I think two days to get to Ventura…
Initially parked at a friend’s house… I took part in The Ventura Comedy
Festival last September…
Took a security job at the marina in Ventura… Took the RV to
the beach and lived on the beach through the winter… Lots of RVer’s were… Met a
lot of nice people… Made some good friends… Lots of people would hang out there…
Bring guitars and stuff and sit around and jam… It was really cool and laid
back…
The marina was right across the street… Could walk to work… Would
take the boys to work with me… Since they don’t look or act like police dogs… I
told everyone they were undercover police dogs…
Lost 20 pounds by changing my diet and all the walking I was
doing…
The Ventura Comedy Club was right down the road… Could walk
there, too…
Was doing comedy there regularly and also a weekly show in
LA… Which was cool… But driving the RV from Ventura to LA once a week started
to be a drag… It was an hour drive in LA traffic… Then I would have to hunt for
a parking place… Sometimes not really close to the club… I would have to leave
the boys in the RV and walk to the club… Walk back to the RV after the show and
then drive an hour in traffic back to Ventura… Traffic doesn’t ever let up in
LA no matter what time it is…
Spring came and when the weather got better, the city of
Ventura decided they didn’t want RVer’s camping on the beach… So the cops were
there daily to hassle people, give tickets for petty shit… They were pricks…
Went toe to toe with a few of them… Figured sooner or later… Me or the dogs
would get shot…
Didn’t have to be there and was really tired of going to LA
in traffic… So Easter weekend we moved to northeast San Diego County… Ramona,
CA… Good Friday… Should have been a 3hr drive… It took 7hrs in holiday weekend
traffic… Parked at the VFW there… An old Navy friend was there… I worked at the
VFW every morning for a few hours in exchange for the electric hook up… Sweet
deal… But I wasn’t doing comedy…
Since I had to quit my job at the marina in Ventura to move…
I got unemployment for 13 weeks… Another sweet deal… I made sure I wrote to
Harbor Patrol and the Ventura Police Dept. to thank them…
While still in Ventura I had my annual physical at the VA
back in January… Won’t go into detail but the doctor there told me I should
file for Social Security Disability… So I did…
Well, the middle of June I am on the phone with the Social
Security Office two towns over from Ramona… I was using the phone in the VFW
Post… It was morning the bar didn’t open until 11am… I had told the guy that I
was living there and given him the number there in case he had to call me back…
Blah, Blah, Blah… He knew where I was…
Anyway… We were “discussing” my case… And I said… “If my
disability payments get denied… I might as well take myself out.” Ah… The magic
words… Think before engaging mouth, Steve…
No sooner do I hang up the phone and three San Diego County
Sheriffs walk into the VFW… It’s funny now looking back… But…
Next thing I know… Handcuffed and on my way to the VA
Hospital in San Diego for being “suicidal”… Then they transferred me to another
place, since they didn’t have room there at the VA…
I ended up in the hospital for 12 days… Before I could
convince them… I was pissed off and my mouth was running faster than my brain…
Though I will say I do think it did me some good to be there…
My friends at the VFW took care of the boys while I was
“gone”… I got back to Ramona and the weather was getting really hot… It’s
inland so it’s a lot warmer than the beach in the summer…
So a few days before the end of June I decided to head north
into the mountains for cooler weather… Spent 2 weeks camping at a Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) Campground overlooking Crowley Lake in the Sierra Mountains…
We were camped at about 7200ft elevation… Cool temps and we got a lot of rain
while there… The mountains around us got snow at the higher elevations… This
was the first week of July…
I had planned on going into Yosemite Park… But they closed
Sonoma Pass through Yosemite… It’s at 9600ft and they had so much snow they
closed the road… Didn’t want any part of driving through snow… So when we
headed north from Crowley Lake we ended up going through Reno and camping
another two weeks in northern Nevada… While there I was trying to figure out
where we wanted to go next…
We were having a great time at both places hiking every day,
Riley doesn’t do the long hikes any more… He fell getting out of the truck
right before I “went away”… Hurt his leg and I really thought I would have to
put him down… But he’s made a great comeback… Now I lift him in and out of the
RV… But once he is up and walking he is good and happy…
Campfires every night… Life is good… So anyway… While in
Nevada I found out about Silver City, ID… About 2hrs south of Boise… In the
mountains… An old 1800s mining town… Now a ghost town there’s a BLM campground
within walking distance of the town… Sounded cool… It was… Hiked in the
mountains everyday… No noise… No electric in the town… Some people still live
there in the summer… Have solar for electric… Sherriff rides a horse… I put his
picture of FB…
From there we started east… I was tired of driving so we
stopped just west of American Falls, ID and camped along the Snake River for
almost another two weeks… Sweet… Swam in the river every day…
Realizing I forgot to visit the Potato Museum when I lived
here before… I headed east again… Intending to come through Idaho Falls and go
to the Tetons for the rest of the summer… I started looking on line for part
time jobs and found the one I started Wednesday here in Idaho Falls… Sent them
a resume, blah, blah, blah… Working as a waiter/bartender…
If I stay that long… Still waiting to hear about SS
disability, but in the meantime need the job… Still looking for other possibilities,
too…
Sent a resume to a place about 2hrs north… A fishing lodge
in Montana… Seasonal… through October… Live right there… They give you lodging
and all your meals… They close for the winter so then I could go south and come
back next spring… Would be cool… But who knows if I will get it…
So for now we are in Idaho Falls… Pulled into the Elks Lodge
here Thursday 8/6 after stopping at the laundromat… Almost 8 weeks of camping laundry…
Got to the Elks (I am a member here) went to the bar to get the key for the
electric hook up… Realized it was the most human contact I had in almost 8 weeks… Except to stop for gas…
Also realized I kind of liked that… Spent 3 nights camped at
the Elks Lodge… Then had planned on going to the mountains for a few days
before starting work on Wednesday...
Stopped into Lowes on Sunday… To say hello to a friend… Walked past a cashier… Another friend of mine
was there buying paint…
Well, she has an old farm house in Shelley, ID… A few miles
south of Idaho Falls, it’s all tore up… It’s the house she grew up in… She and
her boyfriend flip houses in Idaho Falls and they are trying to fix it up and
so she can sell it… So she offered to let me use the electric plug in here for
the RV…
Hence, my status this past Sunday of life's surprises...
So we are camped here now… It’s like coming home for the boys… They
spent a lot of time here before… It’s not far from where I will be working… The
boys have a lot of room to roam around and we are good…
So I think I am all caught up… Life is good… We are happy…
Healthy and who knows might be getting Social Security soon… Then I won’t have
to work the new job and can go anywhere… Anytime…
Might even try booking a comedy tour headed east… But want
to be south again by winter if I can… Comedy would be nice… But all my
decisions now are based on what is best for the boys… They are my family… So
glad to have this year almost 24/7 with them…
And so… Happy Trails to you… Until I Write Again…
